. >> so let me ask you though, today nancy pelosi filed a petition to try to force a house vote later this month on extending the bush tax cuts for families that make under $250,000 a year. as you just said, you stand by your support of that position. but you've said you wouldn't support the petition by nancy pelosi. >> well, i'd like to ask leader pelosi how many discharged petitions she supported when she was speaker. i mean, the reality -- that's a little game. it's not going to be helpful. it's not going to get anything done. and no, i would never sign a discharge petition against my own speaker or my own conference. the way you do things is to negotiate. and frankly, the negotiation is going to largely involve the president of the united states and the speaker of the house of representatives. with all due respect to the other players, they're honestly less central to this. and if they can come to a deal, then i think we can avoid the fiscal cliff. >> and do you think that -- somebody put this idea out here. and this idea is really vile. i'll use the right word. i think you'll agr